Church comes together to make quilts

FOSTORIA — The Hope Lutheran Church in Fostoria is one of many churches that come together to organize, prepare, and assemble quilts and other kits that are sent out to the Lutheran World Relief; from there, they send those items to parts of the United States and other countries across the world that are in need. The Lutheran World Relief, founded in 1945, is an organization that provides aid in emergencies and helps families restore their lives. Lutheran World Relief addresses global poverty by assisting people in adapting to the challenges that threaten their livelihoods and well-being. Their mission is to affirm God's love for all people, work with Lutherans and partners around the world to end poverty, injustice and human suffering. After speaking with Susan Rupert, one of the women quilt makers for 4 years at Hope Lutheran, she shared that the women of Hope Lutheran Church were involved in charity work before the Lutheran World Relief was formed. This included the mission that was started to help with the work effort of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation and Administration (UNRRA) beginning in 1943 during WWII to provide economic relief for victims of the war, which included food, fuel, clothing, shelter, necessities, medical and other essential services. In April of 1945, the UNRRA wanted secondhand clothing for the war-torn areas of Europe. The Lutheran World Relief responded to this request, and the Hope Lutheran Church had an offering and collected $522.07 to send to the UNRRA to help with this project. The women of the church started to collect clothing in May of 1945, and the first shipment went out Dec. 23, 1945, with 11 cartons of used clothing sent to the Lutheran World Relief. In the 1950s, the women of Hope Lutheran Church incorporated sewing projects. Some of these projects included making pads and quilts for nursing homes, and layettes to go to Wernle Children's Home in Indiana. In 1969, changes occurred and nursing homes could not accept certain items that were home-sewn. That same year, the continuous sending of quilts to the Lutheran World Relief was established, with 88 quilts that were sent out that year. Today, the women of Hope Lutheran Church, which is made up of 12 women, put together 134 quilts that will be sent out. The mission of the quilts, according to the Lutheran World Relief website, is to provide many blessings to people in need around the world; quilts can be used as warm bedding, a swaddling cloth, and shelter. These quilts are all put together through donated items of fabric, sheets, thread and other items to help make them. The women also split up the duties of the quilt-making, and would typically come together on Tuesdays to assemble the quilts. In addition to quilts, the women of Hope Lutheran Church also prepare School Kits, Personal Care Kits, and Baby Care Kits. These kits provide comfort, protection, learning supplies and needed items for babies. School Kits include school items of notebooks, a ruler, scissors, pens, pencils, crayons, an eraser and a pencil sharpener that come with a sewn backpack. Personal Care Kits include bar soaps, a toothbrush, a comb, nail clippers and a towel. Baby Care Kits include baby clothing, cloth diapers and blankets that were made, socks, soap, a towel and pins for the cloth diapers. There will be 50 Personal Care Kits, 50 Baby Care Kits and 121 School Kits that will be sent out for Lutheran World Relief. The quilts and kits were blessed during the Hope Lutheran Church's service Sunday and will be sent out for the Lutheran World Relief Oct. 11. "This is really important. It's so rewarding to know that you're making things for people who are really in need. To keep them warm, they can use them for shelter, they can use them to sit on, it's the comfort, and knowing that we want people to feel like they have something nice because a lot of the time these people don't have much of anything," Susan Rupert stated when asked about the importance of being a part of making these quilts. The women of Hope Lutheran Church spend all year preparing and assembling these quilts and kits. After they are sent out, they will begin the process again for next year.